Turkey’s recruitment policy against minorities brought into spotlight

A security investigation to be carried out by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) will have the final say over whether the young man will start his new job. Halepli’s success made its way into many Turkish dailies, most of which termed it “a first in the history of the Turkish Republic.” According to most observers, the wide newspaper coverage of Halepli’s story highlighted the flaws in Turkey’s recruitment policy against members of communities other than Turks.

According to Mustafa Şentop, a professor of constitutional law at Marmara University, there is no law that prohibits non-Muslims or members of minority groups from being employed in state institutions provided that they obtain Turkish citizenship. “With a Constitution prepared in 1924, all Turkish citizens were declared equal. There is no legal obstacle before people’s recruitment at state institutions as long as they are Turkish citizens. However, when it comes to unofficial practices, the case may be different,” he said.

What Şentop was referring to as unofficial practices were long-established but not lawful applications by the state. Members of the Greek or Armenian communities or non-Muslim individuals are rarely employed as civil servants even if they are official citizens of Turkey. Their job applications are rejected for one reason or another.

“Until the 1960s, non-Muslims or minorities were more active in politics and the bureaucracy. There were, for example, 50 or 60 of such deputies then. This number decreased over the years and eventually became zero,” Şentop added.

Halepli was born in İstanbul in 1981. He attended an Armenian primary school and then Robert College in the province. He graduated from a university in the United States and preferred to return to Turkey for his career. The young man reportedly speaks Turkish, English, French, German and Armenian.

Mehmet Altan, a Star daily columnist, said the Halepli case requires Turkey to announce a “citizenship initiative” before all other initiatives. “Who is Leo Süren? He is a citizen of the Republic of Turkey. If he is our citizen, why do we make his exercise of his citizenship rights news? Because he is a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent. And his successful score on the test for the EU General Secretariat’s office is announced on the front pages of newspapers. This means being a ‘citizen’ is not enough,” he noted. Altan added that other criteria sought for employees at state institutions are being a Turk, Muslim and Sunni. “We are talking about a Kurdish initiative, an Alevi initiative, an initiative for Roma people and an Armenian initiative. Why do we need so many initiatives? Because many citizens are not citizens in the real sense on the 86th anniversary of the republic,” he noted.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in summer announced its intention to prepare a massive democratization package through which it hoped to settle several of the country’s chronic problems. Among those were the years-long problems faced by the Kurdish, Alevi and Roma populations. Most of those problems stemmed from discrimination against these groups. Through the democratization package, the government hopes to grant broader cultural rights and freedoms to its citizens.

Eser Karakaş, another Star columnist, wrote earlier this week that the Süren case has proved that Turkey is a state based on race. “Turkey is a country of lies; almost all of what the state has taught us since primary school is a lie. What is the worst lie is that every citizen in this country is a first-class citizen. If this were not a lie, then would the application of one of our citizens of Armenian descent to a state position make news?” asked the columnist.

Karakaş also drew attention to a striking point and asked why it is not possible to see a Turkish citizen of Armenian, Greek or Jewish descent as a captain or major in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). “The TSK states on every possible occasion that the principle slogan of [Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk [the founder of the Republic of Turkey] nationalism is ‘Happy is he who says he is a Turk.’ But we have not seen a Turkish citizen of Armenian, Greek or Jewish origin among TSK staff for years. Is it meaningful for a state to say this so many times to its citizens?” questioned Karakaş. Turkey has been working to thaw the ice between the state and ethnic and religious minorities since the AK Party was swept to power in 2002. Since then, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has underlined on various occasions that the government is against both ethnic and religious nationalism, adding that his government maintains an equal distance from every ethnic and religious group in society.

Similarly, President Abdullah Gül told Parliament in October while addressing deputies on the occasion of the start of the new legislative year not to fear diversity in the country since the process of respecting differences will serve to strengthen Turkey as a nation.